Battery Circularity: Recycling, Second-Life Integration, and Safety Standards

Course Description

Battery Circularity: Recycling, Second-Life Integration, and Safety Standards is a 3-day, hands-on program designed to help participants implement practical circularity workflows across EV and energy storage batteries. The course covers the full lifecycle approach—from intake, testing, and grading of used packs to second-life integration in stationary ESS applications and selection of recycling pathways. Participants work with traceability frameworks such as the Battery Passport, apply design-for-disassembly principles, and align operations with key regulatory and safety requirements including EU Battery Regulation 2023/1542, EPR obligations, recycled-content targets, and major standards such as UN 38.3, IEC, UL, and NFPA. Outcomes include a circularity flow and compliance checklist, a grading decision sheet with an ESS proposal, and a recycling yield model supported by an EHS plan.

Aim

To equip participants with standards, data methods, and hands-on tools to operationalize end-to-end battery circularity—from testing and grading EV/ESS packs through second-life integration to recycling—while ensuring traceability (Battery Passport), regulatory compliance (EU 2023/1542, EPR, recycled-content targets), and safety across product and facility operations (UN 38.3, IEC/UL/NFPA).

Course Objectives

Participants will be able to:

• Map an end-to-end circularity workflow (intake → second-life integration → recycling).

• Apply compliance requirements under EU Battery Regulation 2023/1542 and EPR frameworks, including recycled-content and reporting needs.

• Implement traceability using Battery Passport concepts, serial/QR tracking, custody chain, and SoH/SoC data practices.

• Apply design-for-disassembly principles and plan safe intake, packaging, and transport aligned with UN 38.3 and EHS practices.

• Run and interpret grading tests, decide repurposing routes, and plan BMS updates and integration requirements.

• Align second-life and recycling decisions with relevant IEC/UL/NFPA standards, compare recycling routes, and model yields and ESG implications through practical checklists and decision sheets.

Course Structure

Module 1: Circularity, Policy, and Data Foundations

• Battery circularity value chain: EV/ESS → test/grade → second-life → recycling → cathode supply

• Policy and compliance: EU Battery Regulation 2023/1542, EPR requirements, recycled-content targets

• Traceability systems: Battery Passport, serial/QR identification, custody chain, pack history, SoH/SoC data fields

• Design for disassembly: pack formats, fasteners, adhesives, BMS locks, and circularity KPIs and economics

• Practical session: build a circularity flow and compliance checklist for a selected pack family

Module 2: Second-Life Integration and Repurposing

• Intake and safety checks: EHS screening and transport readiness, UN 38.3 fundamentals

• Testing and grading methods: OCV, DCIR, pulse tests, rapid SoH estimation, and aging model concepts

• Repurposing strategies: module/pack pathways, re-binning, BMS reprogramming, cybersecurity considerations

• Standards alignment: IEC 62619, UL 1973, monitoring expectations, documentation and warranty approach

• Practical session: create a grading decision sheet using sample test data and develop an ESS configuration proposal

Module 3: Recycling Pathways and Safety Standards

• Recycling processes: pyro, hydro, and direct recycling; black-mass quality and recovery considerations

• Yield and ESG modeling: recovery rates, energy and water inputs, LCA boundaries and reporting

• Facility safety: de-energization, discharge, inerting, EHS planning, emergency response preparation

• Standards and certifications: UL 9540/9540A, NFPA 855, IEC 62133, UN 38.3 transport alignment

• Practical session: map a recycling route and yield model (LFP or NMC) and draft an EHS and standards plan

Who Should Enrol

• Battery and ESS engineers (design, testing, integration)

• Second-life/repurposing teams, recyclers, refurbishers

• OEMs, pack/module manufacturers, and BMS engineers

• Compliance, QA/QC, policy and EPR leads; sustainability/ESG analysts

• EHS and safety managers, facility operators, emergency planning teams

• Utilities, EPCs, ESS integrators, microgrid developers

• Investors and product managers in e-mobility and energy storage

• Senior UG/PG students in Electrical, Chemical, Materials, and Energy disciplines